City Panel To Hear $240 Million Skyway Repair Plan

A City Council committee Friday could decide whether to approve a $240 million plan to make major repairs to the 42-year-old Chicago Skyway that links the Dan Ryan Expressway to the Indiana Toll Road.

The plan, which includes the sale of $210 million in new bonds and the use of $30 million in excess toll revenue over the next five years, would not increase the $2 toll paid by drivers who use the 7.8-mile stretch, said Walter Knorr, the city's chief financial officer.

A majority of the work on the Skyway would focus on repairs to floor beams, trusses and decks on the Skyway's 2,500-foot bridge over the Calumet River, said Stan Kaderbek, deputy commissioner and chief engineer for the Chicago Department of Transportation's Bureau of Bridges and Transit. Resurfacing in other areas of the Skyway also would be included in the project, he said.

Jan Metzger, co-director of the Chicagoland Transportation and Air Quality Commission, said she supported the project that will be considered Friday by the council's Finance Committee because it would help preserve infrastructure and would be financed with user fees.

"This is the kind of road project, the major rehabilitation project, that our region has to focus on," Metzger said.

The Skyway, which remained unprofitable for decades, has $166 million in outstanding debt stemming from the bonds originally sold in 1957 to construct the road, Knorr said.

The Skyway pays $10.5 million annually on that original debt, he said. It could owe an additional $13 million annually if the new plan is approved by the City Council Wednesday.

But Knorr said with traffic and revenue steadily picking up, by 2030, the entire Skyway debt could be paid off with money from a special fund that is supported solely by tolls.

"You have the need to repair it," Knorr said. "And the Skyway has basically got the capacity to generate the revenue to pay off the debt."

From 1990 to 1999, the average annual traffic on the Skyway increased by 8.4 percent, Knorr said. From 1995 to 1999, traffic increased by 11.1 percent a year, Knorr said.